Project Management Director - EF Tokyo Language Campus

Location: Tokyo
Reports to: Operation Management

Who We Are
At EF, we’re on a mission to open the world through education. Every day, we empower students from around the globe to explore new cultures, perspectives, and opportunities through language and learning.

Our Tokyo campus welcomes international students year-round to study Japanese language and culture in one of the world’s most dynamic cities. We live by seven core values:

Entrepreneurial Spirit. Passion. Quality. Innovation. Cost Consciousness. Attention to Detail. Nothing is Impossible.

The Opportunity: Project Management Director – EF Tokyo
EF Tokyo is a fast-paced international campus welcoming students from around the world year-round. This role is a hands-on project leadership position that drives the improvement of the campus’s core supporting systems: accommodation, residence capacity, activities, academic quality, and classroom capacity.

As Project Management Director, you will turn operational and academic challenges into structured, measurable projects. You will plan, resource, and deliver initiatives that improve the student experience, the efficiency and profitability of our programmes, and the quality of our teaching environment, working closely with campus leadership and cross-functional teams.

We are looking for a structured, analytical, and resilient leader who can take ownership of complex projects, lead through influence as well as authority, and deliver results in a fast-moving, service-driven environment.

Your Impact
Project Leadership & Governance

- Own the end-to-end project lifecycle: scoping, planning, resourcing, risk management, delivery, and benefits tracking.
- Define project goals, milestones, KPIs, and reporting cadence, and communicate progress clearly to campus and regional leadership.
- Manage project budgets and ensure financial performance against plan.
- Coordinate and influence cross-functional teams across academics, accommodation, activities, and operations.
- Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement aligned with EF’s global values.

Accommodation & Host Family Recruitment
- Lead projects to recruit, onboard, and retain high-quality host families and residences that meet EF welfare standards.
- Plan and track residence capacity against enrolment forecasts, identifying gaps and opportunities early.
- Build a sustainable pipeline of accommodation options and strong host and residence partner relationships.
- Ensure all accommodation projects meet welfare and safeguarding requirements, including for under-18 students.

Activities Efficiency & Profitability
- Review the activities programme to improve efficiency, utilisation, and cost control while maintaining EF safety and risk standards.
- Develop and implement projects that improve the commercial performance of activities without compromising the student experience.
- Use data to evaluate activity performance and recommend changes to the portfolio.

Academic Quality Improvement
- Lead projects that improve academic quality and consistency across the campus, in partnership with academic leadership.
- Coordinate the rollout of academic initiatives, from planning and resourcing through to measurement of impact.
- Track and report on outcomes such as student progress, teacher feedback, and quality benchmarks.

Classroom Capacity Planning
- Analyse classroom utilisation and plan capacity to meet current and forecast enrolment.
- Lead projects that optimise the use of classrooms and facilities, balancing student experience, cost, and growth.
- Work with operations and global sales teams to support enrolment growth through realistic capacity planning.

Student Experience & Customer Satisfaction
- Contribute to the school’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction through projects that improve the student journey.
- Reinforce a student-first mindset across all projects and departments.
 

Who You Are

You may come from project management, consulting, operations improvement, real estate or facilities, hospitality, international education, or other service-driven environments. You are someone who:

• Enjoys turning complex operational challenges into clear plans with defined outcomes.
• Uses data and structured thinking to make decisions, even with imperfect information.
• Communicates clearly with both local and international stakeholders at all levels.
• Balances empathy for students and staff with accountability for results.
• Builds strong working relationships and keeps teams focused on shared goals.
• Keeps projects on track through clear planning, regular check-ins, and proactive escalation.

Relevant experience (preferred):

• Experience leading multi-stakeholder projects, ideally in accommodation, education, hospitality, or service operations.
• Familiarity with project management methodologies and tools.
• Proven ability to improve efficiency, capacity utilisation, or profitability.

You are internationally minded and culturally adaptable, and comfortable operating within both local Japanese and international environments. Fluency in both English and Japanese is essential, as the role requires working with local teams while operating within a highly international environment.